DANISH shipping giant, the Maersk Group, is involved in two projects focussed on finding marine fuel from sustainable biomass, lignin, a complex organic polymer found in plants.
Maersk undertakes two projects to find alternative fuel to cut costs DANISH shipping giant, the Maersk Group, is involved in two projects focussed on finding marine fuel from sustainable biomass, lignin, a complex organic polymer found in plants.
With an annual fuel bill of US$7 billion for vessel operations, Maersk said it must consider ways to reduce its bunker fuel consumption. Greater efficiency is the primary way of achieving this and alternative fuels are another.
"Lignin has a variety of industrial uses already because of its chemical characteristics, energy content and its abundance, yet its potential as a marine diesel fuel is a relatively uncharted area," says Peter Normark Sorensen, with Maersk Oil Trading, the group's oil buying arm.The more lignin there is in wood the sturdier and stronger it is and the more efficiently it burns. But lignin is also released in large quantities as a residue during the production process of paper as well as advanced bio-ethanol.In February, Maersk signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Progression Industry, a spin-off company of Eindhoven University of Technology, to develop a viable marine fuel from lignin that meets stringent parameters on price, technical performance, sustainability and emissions.
